Method of uniting the fibers of fibrous plants.



J. s. GILLIES. METHOD OF UNITING.THB FIBERS 0F FIBROUS PLANTS.APPLICATION FILED DEC. 28, 1912. RENEWED DEC. 29, 1913. 1,095, 1 O3.

Patented Apr. 28, 1914.

wi lmwoe/a MWJW JOHN S. GIL'LIES, OF MANILA, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.

METHOD OF UNITING THE FIBERS OFFIBROUS PLANTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 28, 1914.

Application filed Decem er 28, 1912', Serial No. 739,128. RenewedDecember 29, 1913. Serial No. 809,399.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN S. GrLLrEs, a citizen of the United States,residing at Manila, in the Philippine Islands, have 1nvented certain newand useful Improvements in Methods of Uniting the Fibers of FibrousPlants; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to makeand use the same.

The present invention relates to a method of and apparatus for unitingthe fibers of fibrous plants into continuous strands for the manufactureof hats, fabrics, or other products made from this material, andconsists in the combinations of steps of procedure, and combinations andarrangements of parts of apparatus hereinafter disclosed andparticularly set forth in the claims.

The process now in use of uniting the separate fibers of the abaca orhemp plant is the primitive method of tying the fibers together by knotsuntil a strand of the desired length is made, but this method is atfault, in that the original length of each individual fiber is shortenedand the knot is an obstacle to the easy and rapid manufacture of thefibers. into fabric.

To overcome the aforementioned disadvantages, the present inventionproposes to unite the individual fibers into a continuous strand of anydesired length and to avoid the use of knots or the like; and wherein agreat number of fibers are treated in theone operation, to the end thata great number of continuous and unbroken strands are made at the sametime.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists in the noveldetails of construction and combinations of parts more fully hereinafterdisclosed and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a part of thisspecification in which like numerals designate like parts in all theviews :-Figure 1 is a front elevational view of the apparatus used forinitially treating the abaca leaves. Fig. 2 is a side elevational viewthereof; Fig. 3 is a side elevatipnal view showing the initial manner ofuniting the abaca leaf sections; Fig. 4 is a top plan view showingtheunited sections; Fig. 5 is an elevational View of the comb employed;Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional View of the comb taken on the line 6-6of Fig. 5; and Fig. 7 is an end elevational view of the crimping rollerused.

In carrying out the operation the abaca leaves are cut into sections ofsuitable lengths and with the, fibers running lengthwise thereof, and Ihave found it satisfactory to have these abaca leaf sections about twoinches wide when the same contain about four hundred separate fibers.

The leaf section A is placed upon the roller 1 of the apparatus and theknife 2 is lowered into contact therewith after that manner indicated bybroken lines in Fig. 2, the end B of the leaf section having been firstpassed through whereby to leave that portion of the leaf sectiondn anatural condition, for a purpose to be presently explained. The leafsection is then drawn against the edge 3 of the knife 2, which incooperation with the roller 1 will remove all the portion of the leafexcepting the fibers C. This treatment of the leaf to expose the fibersC is carried on until said fibers are exposed for about the full lengthof the leaf section when the pressure or tension on the knife 2 ispartially relieved, and the end portion of the abaca leaf is treated forcleaning and exposing but not separating the fibers. The opposite end ofthe abaca leaf section is then in like manner treated.

The knife 2 is slidably and adjustably mounted on the shaft 4 journaledat P on the supporting frame 5, through the medium of a pair of rods 6that pass loosely through theshaft 4 and which are provided withtensioning springs 7 mounted thereon intermediate the knife 2 and. saidshaft 4. The extent of movement of the blade 2 and the degree ofresiliency of the springs 7 acting on said blade is adapted to beregulated through the medium of a rod 8 that is secured to said blade,and has a screwtherefore the strands through the shaft 4 .of the bladesupporting armsG.

The blade 2 is provided with a weight 11, that is adjustably mounted ona screwthreaded arm 12 carried by the blade, to the endthat the knifemay close quickly. An arm 13 is secured to the shaft 4 and serves forswinging said shaft for lifting the blade 2 of the roller 1, as will beunderstood.

When the several strips, or leaf sections, of the same width are cleanedin the manner above stated, 2'. e., with the fibers not separated attherespective ends of the strips, said strips are united continuously insubstantially the following manner :The ends of two strips, includingeach the uncleaned portion B and a portion of the fibers C adjacentthereto, are overlapped in substantially that manner illustrated in Fig.8 of the accompanying drawings. The advantage of this part of theprocess will be obvious, as it entirely eliminates the handling of theindividual strands, or fibers, of each leaf section, which wouldotherwise be the case were the uncleaned portion B of the. leaf sectionremoved previous to this step in the operation. The teeth of the combare inserted between the strands of one ofthe leaf sections, and saidteeth are disposed downwardly. In like manner another comb has its teethinserted between the strands of the section to be united, and in thisinstance said teeth are disposed upwardly. The two strips are thenplaced in overlapping relation with the teeth of the two combs ininter-engagement, and between each pair of teeth are in position to beunited by an adhesive, as will be understood. The top comb is then drawnback to the butt of the uncleaned end B, with the result that eachindividualfiber, or strand, in the top strip is exactly opposite acorresponding fiber in the bottom strip, thus making certain that whenthe cement is applied one top fiber is joined exactly to one of thebottom fibers; and with this arrangement repeated in the course ofunitin the several strips, it results that a plurality ofcontinuouslyconnected and independent strands are obtained.

When both of the combs have been drawn back to the uncleaned ends oftheir respective engaging strips, and the strandsthereby alined, both ofthe strips are placed fiat on the table, and a'small corrugated roller(such as shown in Fig. 7) is placed in the interval between thetwocombs, or at that part of the strips: where the separated fibersoverlap.

This roller is moved back and forth by hand with slight pressure wherebyto flatten said overlapping fibers and impart thereto a plurality ofcrimps or corrugations in each fiber, to. the end of obtaining a largeradhesive holding surface, and thus to obtain a more perfect jointbetween each two connected strands. When this crimping or flatteningprocess has been completed, the top strip is raised slightly from thebottom strip and the adhesive is applied between the overlappingstrands, or in that portion between the two combs. The strands are thenpressed together where the cement has been applied, and after suchcement is set the uncleaned ends B are cut off.

The present invention also comprehends the uniting of the strands ofadjacent strips by the sim le operation of overlapping tie separated berportions of two strips and leaving the uncleaned ends thereofofistanding or exposed. The overlapping fibers are united by anysuitable adhesive, and when the same has sufficiently set, the uncleanedends would be removed.

It is obvious that those skilled in the art may vary the details of theprocesswithout departing from the spirit of my invention, and thereforeI do not wish to be limited to the above disclosure, except as may berequired by the claims.

What I claim is 1. The method of uniting the fibers of fibrous leavesinto continuous strands, consisting in uniting by adhesion sections ofsaid leaves into a continuous strip with the strands of the respectivesections in alinement, and removing from the strip the matter extraneousto the strands thereof.

2. The method of uniting the fibers of fibrous leaves into continuousstrands consisting incutting the leaves'into sections, treating saidsections to separate and expose the fibers in the body portion, and nottreating the respective end portions thereof; connecting said sectionsby uniting the fibers thereof at points adjacent the uncleaned portions;and then removing said uncleaned portions, substantially as described.

3. The method of uniting the fibers of fibrous leaves into continuousstrands consisting in cutting the leaves into sections, treating saidsections to separate and expose the fibers in the body portion thereof,and leaving the respective end portions intact; overlapping and aliningthe fibers of said sections adjacent the end portions thereof, anduniting the same with an adhesive; and removing the end portions of saidsections, substantially as described.

4. The method of uniting the fibers of fibrous leaves into continuousstrands consisting in cutting the leaves of the plant into sections;treating said sections to separate and expose the fibers in the bodyportion thereof, and leaving intact the end portions;

overlapping and alining the fibers of the sec removing said intact endportions, substan-' tially as described.- 0

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature, in presence 0 two Witnesses.

JOHN S. GILLIES.

tions adjacent their respective intact end Witnesses: portions, crnnpingsaid overlapping fibers Gnnoomo FERNLUNDY, and uniting the same with anadheslve; and B. M. FERARCIA.

